How can you still love me?
by angelinthesky-121
Summary: Quil loves Claire. How will he react when something tradgic happens? Can his love for Claire overcome this disaster, or will will they fall apart?
1. Preface

How can you still love me?

Dedicated to Girl_in_colour for her birthday. Happy Birthday!

Preface

I was on patrol, the day it happened. It was just me and Embry. I was running round the border of La Push, when I caught the scent of a vampire.

_Crap,_ I thought to Embry, _Do you smell that?_

_Yeah, _He replied,_ That's not Renesmee, Edward or Bella._

_Another Cullen?_ I suggested as I ran full pelt in the direction the smell was coming from.

_Possibly. Different sent though, I think. _I met Embry whilst I was running. We kept going, running through the trees and undergrowth. The closer we got, the stronger the sent got. Then it became mixed with a sent I knew all to well. I turned to Embry in panic.

_CLAIRE_, His face mirrored the shock on mine. Sure enough, we heard Claire's screams the closer we got to her. I took off, running faster than I had before. Then I saw the form off a vampire, crouching over the form of Claire, _my _Claire. I growled and ran as fast as my legs would carry me. The vampire saw us approaching. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of us. Then she turned and ran In the opposite direction. I phased, and ran to Claires side. Embry kept running chasing the vampire. I heard him calling to Jacob. I knelt down at Claires side, and took her hand.

"Oh my God." I said in a panicked whisper. There was blood running from the wound on her neck. Not sure what to do, I sat beside her panicking. Then I heard the sound of Jacob running towards us.

"Quil!" He yelled as he ran. "Is she all right? What happened?" He asked, coming closer and leaning down beside me. I could feel the tears that were running down my face.

"Embry said you were on Patrol and you smelled a vampire." Jacob said, putting a hand on my back.

" I'll tell you in a minute, but Jacob, WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT CLAIRE?" I yelled at him, trying to keep a hold of the screaming girl in my arms.

"Right, okay. Uh." Jacob was looking panicked, but then he switched into Alpha mode.

"Right. We'll take her to the Cullens. Carlisle might know what to do." He said, straightening up. "Do you want to carry her?" He asked. I didn't say anything, I just nodded. I picked Claire up and held her more securely in my arms. She was struggling and screaming trying to get out of my arms. Me and Jacob were running as fast as we could. Jacob took his phone out of his pocket and pressed some buttons.

"Alice. Yes, Jacob. There's a problem. Is Carlisle in? Good. Clare's been...attacked." I flinched at the word attacked. Jacob looked at me, and went back to his conversation. All I think of was Claire. _Claire, you have to be okay. You've got to be. I need you._

"Right. We'll meet you there then. Bye." Jacob said hanging up the phone.

"To save time, Alice and Carlisle are going to meet us at the border." He turned to face me again. "Don't worry, She'll be okay." I didn't say anything, but I kept my gaze on Claire. She was in so much pain, that it hurt me to look at her, but at the same time I couldn't look away. "Don't worry, She'll be okay."Jacob muttered to me, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her either.I didn't say anything, but I kept my gaze on Claire. She was in so much pain, that it hurt me to look at her, but at the same time I couldn't look away.

We kept running, and sure enough when we got to the border, two of the Cullens were waiting there. We ran over to them. When I got closer, The blond doctor leaned forward to take Claire from me. I growled at him, and held Claire closer to me.

"Quil." Jacob said quietly, putting his hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off, still glaring at the Cullens.

"Quil, I know it must be hard to trust us considering what just happened, but we aren't going to hurt her." The blond one said, looking me in the eye.

"Quil, trust them. He's going to help her." Jacob said. I looked down at the girl who held my heart. Slowly, I handed her over to him, and he took her in his arms. He then laid her down on the ground. I stood beside Jacob, looking down, and flinching every time Claire screamed. I longed to do something, even to hold her hand. But Jacob said, it might be getting in the way.

"Carlisle, can you remove the venom?" Alice asked turning to face Carlisle. He turned to look at her. "I'm afraid not." I felt my heart miss a beat. Then he turned to me and said, " It's too late to remove the venom. It's already entered her system, and it would be too risky too remove it now." I started to tremble. Jacob was looking at me so he saw what was happening.

"Quil. Calm down." He yelled, but I couldn't.

"So what now?" I yelled. "Is she going to die?" I could feel the tremors rolling down my back. Jacob was standing in front of me now, trying to clam me down.

" Well, not exactly." Carlisle said, a sympathetic look on his face. "The venom has already been in her system too long for us to remove it." He sighed. "I'm afraid Claire is becoming like us. A vampire."


	2. It's My Fault

"_The venom has already been in her system too long for us to remove it." He sighed. "I'm afraid Claire is becoming like us. A vampire."_

I stopped shaking, and stared at him. Jacob turned to face him.

"What? Are you serious?" He asked, shaking his head at Carlisle. Carlisle sighed again.

"I'm afraid so." He looked at us. "I'm very sorry Quil, Jacob." I dropped to my knees beside Claire and held her hand. She was looking at me, but she didn't seem to be seeing. I held her hand as tightly as I could without hurting her.

"Claire." I said to her, though it came out a hoarse whisper. "I love you. With all my heart. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have been there to protect you. I'm sorry." I could feel myself crying, but I couldn't control it. I could hear Jacob and the Cullen's talking, but I could only hear them faintly. I thought I should probably pay attention as they're discussing Claire. I looked up to see that they were all looking at me sadly. ' Then Carlisle spoke to me.

"We should probably take Claire back to our house, and make her comfortable. That is, if it's okay with you." He said. I nodded, not trusting myself to talk.

I watched as Alice bent down to pick Claire up, before I growled at her. Carlisle stood in a protective stance behind Alice, but she waved him off.

"It's okay, Carlisle." Alice said, stepping back and letting me pick up Claire.

"We'll lead the way." She said, running back through the forest. I followed, keeping hold of Claire.

"Don't worry, sweetie. You'll be okay." I whispered to Claire, as we ran.

When we got to the Cullens house, we went upstairs. I followed Carlisle as he went into a bedroom. It didn't look used, so it must have been a spare one.

"You can set her down on the bed, Quil." He said, looking at Claire with a sad expression on his face. I set Claire down and stood beside her, holding onto her hand.

"Quil! Make it stop!" Claire yelled in pain. I closed my eyes and held her hand tighter.

"What can I do?" I asked Carlisle, my voice cracking. He looked at me sadly.

"I'm sorry, but all we can do is wait." He turned to Claire. "It will be over soon, young one." She screamed, and it felt like a dagger stabbing me.

I heard the front door being opened, and the sound of voices down below. The thud od feet coming upstairs came, and the door was opened. Two vampires entered the room.

"Emmett, Jasper." Carlisle addressed them. "Did you find anything?" The bigger one shook his head.

"We followed the trail, but it disappeared after about six miles." He said, looking at The other blond male. Carlisle nodded.

"Thank you Emmett." He said.

"So what. Are you just giving up?" I asked, trying to remain calm, but I was struggling. Suddenly, I felt a wave of calm wash over me. I sat down on the bed beside Claire, and smoothed her hair away from her face.

"Don't worry, Claire. It'll be over soon." I told her as the vampires talked.

I wasn't aware of how much time had passed, until I heard Jacob coming back in.

"I had to go talk to the pack." He said, sitting down beside me. " Sam and Emily are coming to see her." He told me. The door opened, and Emily cam running in, followed by Sam.

"I'll leave you alone." Jacob muttered, walking out of the room. Emily ran over to Claire.

"Oh, Claire!" She whispered, picking up Clare's other hand.

"Emily! I don't like it." She screamed. "It's burning me!" I saw Emily break down in tears. Sam put his hands on her shoulders and smoothed her hair.

"It's okay." He said quietly, trying to soothe her.

"It is not okay!" Emily yelled turning to face him. "What's going to happen to her? What should we tell her mother? Her sister?" She turned to me.

"Why didn't you save her?" She whispered.

"Em..." Sam said, grabbing her hand.

"I... don't know." I said, not looking her in the eye.

"I should have been there." I said, turning to look at Claire. "It's my job to protect her, and I... failed." Sam looked at me.

"Quil. There was nothing you could have done." He said softly. I was quiet.

" He could have been there." Emily muttered.

"Emily. You don't mean that." Sam muttered, looking at her.

"Quil, I think you should go." Emily said, ignoring him. I looked at her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." She sighed, looking at me. "I'm just...worried about her." I looked at Claire.

"Me too. It really is all my fault." I said. Tears were still running down my face.

We sat with Claire, trying to calm her each time she screamed. Sam and Emily went home after about three hours, but I stayed. I sat with her for two more days, before something happened. She began to scream more, and her heartbeat increased.

"What did I do?" Claire screamed, as her heart pounded. Carlisle came running to the room.

"She's nearing the end of her transformation." He said to me. "You had better leave, Quil." I shook my head.

"Quil, Clare's gunna be a newborn. She'll be... well, she might be different." Jake said, walking into the room.

"You can come back and see her after." He said, as I shook my head. He sighed, and pulled me to the garden, where I waited as the girl I loved slowly lost her humanity.


	3. It's Okay

Jacob looked at me as we stood in the garden.

"This is going to be okay, Quil." He said quietly. I didn't speak. I just shook my head. He sighed quietly and looked up.

"They should be nearly finished by now." He muttered quietly to himself. The door opened, and I looked up.

The blonde vampire came out into the garden, and walked to us. Again, I felt the immediate calm washing over, me.

"Carlisle, Alice and Emmett have taken Claire hunting in the forest." He said, looking me in the eyes. I nodded my head, and sat down on the ground. He looked at Jacob.

"They'll be back in a while." He said to him.

"Thanks, Jasper." Jacob replied, smiling weekly. Jasper nodded, before turning back to the house.

When the calm had gone, I growled.

"I wish he'd stop doing that!" I half-yelled at Jacob. He grimaced.

"I know, but he's only trying to help you." He said. I looked at him.

"I don't need help. I need Claire!" I was shaking again, but I couldn't help it. Seeing this Jacob stood up, and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Quil, calm down. This won't help anything. Just calm... dow- QUIL!" He yelled as I exploded into my wolf form. He quickly phased.

_Quil,_ I heard inside my head. _Calm down. It'll be okay, just... calm down, okay? _

I stopped growling, and sat down. I put my head on my paws and howled.

Renesmee came out of the house, and walked over to Jacob. He grabbed her hand to hold her back from me, but she put her hand to his face. Reluctantly, he let her go and she walked up to me. She put her arms around, me and buried her face in my fur. I sat motionless, until I saw Bella coming out of the house. I turned to look at her, as she walked to Jacob.

"Jacob. Can I talk to you?" She asked. He looked at me, before nodding. They began to walk away, but she turned around. "Nessie, be careful." She said, looking worried. I saw Jacob roll his eyes.

"Relax, Bells. He won't hurt her." He said. They walked into the house together, leaving me, sitting with Renesmee while she stroked my fur.

We sat in silence, until I heard Jacob coming back out.

"Nessie, Your dad wants to talk to you" He said. She nodded, and got up. Jacob came over to me.

"Here." He said, giving me a spare pair of pants. I picked them up in my mouth, and walked into the bushes. I phased, and put them on. I emerged from the bushes to see Jacob standing. He smiled at me, but I didn't return the gesture. I couldn't.

"Quil, I think we should go home for a bit." He said, not looking at me. "Just for a while. Go see your mom, and Embry." I looked at him frowning.

"Quil, come on. Just for a bit. We can come back tomorrow. Besides, we need to talk to the rest of the pack." I didn't want to leave Claire, but Jacob was right. We did need to talk to them. I nodded and followed him out onto the road. When we were in the wood, I turned to Jacob.

"Faster if we phase." I suggested to him. He nodded, and took off his shorts. He phased, and ran deeper into the woods. Following his lead, I removed my own shorts, and tied them to my my ankle. I phased, and bounded after him.

We reached La Push after only 5 minutes. Jacob had all ready called the rest of the pack, so they were waiting for us.

_I've shown them what we saw_ Embry told us, keeping his head down. I heard a mixture of sorrys and unluckys, in my head. I sighed, and flinched, as I remembered the memory.

_Why isn't Quil with Claire now?_ A voice asked.

_Leah. _Jacob growled. She rolled her eyes, but was silent.

_Right. So as you know, Claire was attacked. By a vampire. A rouge vampire._ Jacob said. _We need to be on the lookout for a female vampire with curly brown hair. _The pack looked as Embry and me remembered the vampire we had seen.

_Who wants to take the first watch? _Jacob asked_. _Seth nodded his head.

_I will _He said. Jacob nodded at him. _Anyone else? Leah?_

_Oh, fine_ She snapped, looking annoyed.

_Nice tempered as always, Leah. _Embry snapped back. Jacob growled at them both as a warning. _Right. Everyone get home. And be. Careful. _The pack nodded, and went their separate directions. Jacob turned to look at me.

_Go get some sleep, Quil. I'll talk to you tomorrow._ I nodded, and phased back, putting on my shorts.

I walked into my house to see my mom sitting at the table. When I went in, she stood up and walked to me. She reached up and put her arms around me. I hugged her back. Suddenly, I felt tears running down from my eyes. My mother brought me over to our battered brown couch, and there I cried onto her shoulder.


	4. Ice Cold Skin

When I woke up, I saw that I was lying on the sofa. I looked over at the clock hanging on the wall.

7:00 Am

"Crap." I muttered, leaping off the sofa and running out the front door. Once in the forest, I phased, and began running. I knew my way to the Cullen house, so it wasn't hard to find. Once there, I phased quickly and bounded out of the wood. Edward and the blond female vampire, Rosalie, were standing on the porch.

"Hello, Quil." Edward said, quietly.

"Where's Claire?" I asked looking between them. Rosalie glared at me.

"Excuse me, might be nice." She sneered. I growled quietly.

"Rose." Edward frowned. " He's clearly upset. Imagine if something happened to Emmett." She laughed coldly.

"Nothing Would happen to Emmett, because _I_ would look after him." That's when something snapped. Before either of us knew it, I had phased and jumped at her. Rosalie's shocked face turned to anger. She growled and threw me away. Scrambling to my feet again, I ran at her once more. I pulled back my teeth as I ran ready to attack. The front door burst open, and the huge vampire came running at me, teeth bared.

"No, EMMETT!" I heard yells from behind him, and all the Cullens burst from the house.

"Shut up." He snarled at them. His eyes seemed to burn as we raced towards each other, across the big yard. I jumped, and tried to catch him with my teeth, but he moved out of my way. I felt a hands seizing me, and I was thrown to the ground. I heard another snarl from the Cullens, but this time it was girls voice. I turned my head, ignoring the pain in my side to look. There was a small Vampire Crouching in front of me She had chalky dark skin, and glossy black hair down to her waist. She was snarling at Emmett, and he was glaring straight past her at me. He ran at me attempting to get past her defence, but the girl threw him backwards with ease. He flew through the air quickly and hit a tree. Rosalie shrieked and ran towards Emmett, closely followed by Edward.

Rosalie grabbed his hand, and after glaring at me once more, pulled him into the forest. Edward gave me and apologetic look before running after them. I closed my eyes and whimpered, before turning and lying on my back. I heard footsteps coming towards me. I opened my eyes, and saw the beautiful vampire looking down at me, her face shocked. She reached a hand out and touched my shoulder.

"Quil." She whispered. Then I saw her properly. This was Claire. She was so different. Her hair was softer, and it fell around her face differently. I looked at her, and she smiled sadly. She turned to Carlisle.

"Will you help him?" She asked in a scared tone. He smiled at her.

"Yes, of course."

"Quil?" I heard Jacobs voice. I looked over at him. He was looking sad as he walked towards me. "Can I pick you up and take you inside?"

I Whimpered, and phased. Jacob walked towards me. I saw Alice look at Jasper, and he walked towards me to help. He picked up my feet while Jacob lifted my shoulders together, they brought me into the house. They put me down on their sofa, and Jacob threw a blanket over me. I looked around, and saw that Claire was standing beside me. She looked at me, her eyes wide.

"Are you okay?" She asked me. Her voice was delicate, like wind chimes. I was shocked, but I tried to hide it. I smiled weekly back.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Carlisle walked over to me and bent down. He smiled. " Now, Quil. Where hurts the most."

"Uh, the ribs on my left side." I told him. He frowned slightly to himself.

"Right. I'm going to have to reset your ribs. It will hurt, but it shouldn't take long to fix them." I nodded, and braced myself for the pain.

Carlisle began to replace my ribs. I shut my eyes, as my broken bones were fixed. I cried out in pain occasionally, but it didn't take long for Carlisle to fix them. When he was finished, I opened my eyes. He smiled at me.

"There you go." He looked over his shoulder to Claire. "I'll leave you too alone." He said, turning to walk from the room. Claire came over to me, and dropped to her knees.

"Quil, are you all right?" She asked, taking my hand. Her hand was cold, which shocked me.

"Hey." I said, smiling at her.

"Hey." she replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. You?"

Claire laughed. "I'm fine." She turned around, and I noticed Jasper was standing silently in the corner of the room. "Can you give us a minute?" He narrowed his eyes slightly, and he shook his head.

"Sorry Claire. But I'm here to protect you." He said in his slow voice. Claire hissed at him, and turned back to me.

"I'm not going to hurt him." She muttered, looking into my eyes. I smiled, and squeezed her incredibly cold hand.

"I know." I whispered.

**Okay, Emma I know it's short, but that's your fault, for making me update. :)**


End file.
